Promoting the potabilization of drinking water at home using local materials as an alternative solution for combating waterborne diseases: Socioeconomic feasibility study in Dschang, West Cameroon

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the socioeconomic feasibility of promoting locally produced water filters to promote their local production. It appears that 69.8% of participants did not know that water filters were produced locally and 92.3% were ready to buy them with efficiency as the main motivation (39.8%). In addition, being aged [46–60 years old] (OR = 19.17; IC = 3.13–37.81; p = 0.008), being female (OR = 1.67; IC = 1.02–2.77; p = 0.041), student/pupil (OR = 2.32; IC = 1.13–4.78; p = 0.021), employed in the private sector (OR = 3.68; IC = 1.32–11.16; p = 0.015), and civil servant (OR = 3.28; IC = 1.09–10.99; p = 0.041) significantly increased the odds of having ever used a water filter in their household. In addition, we found that 71.7% of participants had ever used an imported ceramic water filter in their households and the main reason given by these participants for abandoning or renewing these filters within their households was that they felt that they had already become old and inefficient. The valorization of locally manufactured filters could therefore constitute a logical alternative that can contribute to solving a certain number of socioeconomic and health problems in our country.